Wonder
by horsebackrider230
Summary: Something is bothering Ziva, and the whole team can tell. Did something happen on her latest trip to tel-aviv? The team  doesn't know and its really worrying Tony! Tons of Tiva and a little of Mcabby! R&R pretty please with a cherry on top! Very Fluffy!
1. Chapter 1

He starred. He couldn't stop. Something had changed in her demeanor, her posture was more that of a tired, old dog then a trained assassin. Ziva had been quite distant since her last trip to Tel-Aviv. The whole team had noticed, especially Tony. He was really worried about Ziva. He wanted to ask what was up but knew better than to confront her about personal information. The last time he had tried to ask about her personal life, it had not gone to well. Tony decided to delegate the tough task to McGee instead of give Ziva a reason to target her anger towards him.

" I'm going down to see if Abby has the results of the tox screen" Tony told Ziva while getting up from his desk.

" Umh" was her response.

" I might as well be talking to a brick wall", mumbled Tony under his breath, something was obviously bothering her. He contemplated all the possibilities while taking the elevator to Abby's subterranean lab. When he got there, Tony saw Abby, Ducky and McGee huddled together deep in conversation. They stopped talking the moment he walked in.

" Oh its only Tony" said Abby in her usual exuberant manner

" Gee thanks Abbs, you make me feels real special! So what are we gossiping about? How McGeek still sleeps with a teddy bear?" He said in a mocking tone.

" Wow Tony, real mature" said McGee in a bored voice, he had heard the insult so to many times.

" Whatever Probie-One-Kenobi, so what are we talking about? Asked Tony

" Ziva" replied Abby and McGee simultaneously.

" She has been acting weird lately, you should ask her what's wrong probie" said Tony, a little too innocently

"Ya when pigs fly, I'm not stupid Tony. I graduated from MIT, I'm not going to cross her path purposely when she's angry!" exclaimed McGee

" A lot of crazy stuff is going to happen if pigs ever fl…" A sharp pain on the back of his head interrupted Tony.

"Hey boss", said Tony while rubbing the spot where Gibbs had slapped his for the past 7 years.

"Hey Gibbs" said Abby

"What have you got Abbs?" asked Gibbs

" Ok so the tox screen for Petty officer McNealy didn't show anything interesting, but Petty Officer Kenter is a different story," said Abby pausing trying to get Gibbs to guess.

"What Abby" asked Gibbs

"Guess Gibbs" the look that Gibbs gave her defiantly conveyed his reaction to Abby's suggestion

"Ok then don't…" said Abby trying to sound a little hurt, but knowing that Gibbs could tell she was faking it, continued on her summery of what she had found.

"Kenter was an unfortunate victim of Ethylene Glycol poisoning" concluded Abby

" Ethylene whatcol?" asked Tony confused

"Anti-freeze, Tony" replied McGee

"It's a very interesting substance, since it is odorless and sweet tasting it is easily masked by other tastes. Once digested it only becomes toxic after it has been metabolized, it will form calcium oxalate crysta"

"Ducky" interrupted Gibbs

" Yes, Jethro?" asked Ducky. Gibbs started to walk to the door, but Abby stopped him.

" Wait Gibbs there's more, I found Hairs on both of the bodies" Abby said

"That great Abby, can you get a match in the database?" asked McGee

" I haven't run them through any databases yet and I don't intend too" answered Abby

"Why not?" asked Tony

"Because unless they have a COTIS for oryctolagus cuniculus we aren't going to get a match" replied Abby

"What?" asked McGee

"Rabbit hair" answered Ducky wisely

" Correct as always Duckman!" smiled Abby

"Anything else Abbs?" asked Gibbs

"Nope that's all I got", said Abby

"Call me if you get anything" said Gibbs making his way to the door

"Will do Gibbs", said Abby

They had been working a case with two Petty Officers stationed at Norfolk, found in Rock Creek Park. Petty Officers McNealy and Kenter had been friends who shared a bachelor pad on base. Their last known whereabouts were outside a bar, they had been seen there getting a drink with some girls at about 11 o'clock 3 day earlier. The next morning their bodies had been found in a ravine in the park. Ducky had identified the cause of death for McNealy to be a gash on his leg that had severed the femoral artery. Petty Officer Kenter had showed no obvious external signs of trauma; on closer examination of kidneys it was apparent that calcium oxalate crystals had formed. Abby's conclusion that he had been poisoned with ethylene glycol meant that the Petty officer had most likely been poisoned over a period of time. Some of the symptoms would have included vomiting, headaches, diarrhea and later cardiovascular dysfunction, which matched the witness statements from colleges saying that the Petty officer had not been feeling well lately. The team had made no real progress on the case. Ziva's unwillingness to open up was really bothering everyone. A good portion of everyone's intellect was spent on contemplating what could be bothering Ziva and why she was keeping it quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

She knew everyone had noticed that something was wrong. They had been starring and whispering behind her back. Ziva knew she should tell them, they were a team after all, her best friends, people Ziva could trust to have her back when even she was not sure of herself. She wasn't ready to tell anyone just yet, it wasn't that big of a deal either. Ziva didn't know why it had bothered her so. She had faced death countless times in her youth, life at Mossad and finally at N.C.I.S. But it had to be dually noted that this incident had hit "close to home" as Tony would say. While on her latest trip to Tel-Aviv Ziva had received the news that her two closest childhood companions, also Mossad agents, had been killed on an assignment. This had disturbed Ziva and interfered with her system of bottling up her emotions more than she could ever have imagined. Anyone who looked at her face could see the pronounced difference in her exterior, the difference was small but noticeable if one took a second to look. When someone looked into Ziva's penetrating brown, eyes that usually didn't show fear or weakness, they would be able to catch the momentary shadow of pain. That fleeting glimpse of weakness in her eyes was just enough of a contradiction from the normal Ziva for everyone to notice.

Knowing that Oli and Dennia, the people she shared her fondest childhood memories with, no longer lived opened all of the boxes of emotion that she had stored and pad-locked inside her head. It was a reminder that life could be taken in a second and that one should live life to the fullest while it was still possible. Oli and Dennia had only recently consummated their relationship, even though it had been obvious since childhood that they were meant for each other. The last conversation Ziva had had with Dennia had been over a month ago. They had discussed soul mates, the concept that Dennia and Ziva had always made fun of as children and young adults. Dennia had told her that she now knew what everyone had meant. The hardest part for her and Oli to finally take their relationship to the next level was the fact that they were worried their partnership would collapse. Dennia had told Ziva that the hardest and most frightening part was taking the leap, not knowing if something even more beautiful would emerge or the already wonderful working relationship and friendship would crumple, but that it had been worth all the distress and sleepless nights. What upset Ziva the most was that her friends had barely gotten their feet wet in the ocean of their relationship before they were taken from this life. They had not seen the flower bloom, just the bud forming and first few petals opening slightly to reveal the numerous other petals that stayed folded, opening up more and more as each day went by. The flower of their relationship, the one they had waited years to peruse, had bloomed, just a little to late.

McGee broke Ziva's chain of thought,

" Tony, hey Tony… TONY" McGee shouted, no response from the sleeping man sitting at the desk on the other side of the room. McGee took a crumpled up ball of paper from the trash and threw it at Tony. It hit the sleeping agent right on the nose, McGee had been aiming for the forehead but the nose was close enough.

The impact of the paper on Tony's face caused him to jump from his sleeping position.

" What probie, can't you see I'm busy?" asked Tony in a very peeved voice

" Doing what? Catching up on your beauty sleep?" relied McGee in a mocking tone

" Its your turn to get take out, Tony" continued McGee

" Any objections to Chinese?" Tony asked Ziva and McGee

"Fine with me" said Ziva

"Well, I would prefer somthi…" said McGee before he was interrupted

"Well then Chinese it is!" announced Tony while walking to the elevator and sticking out his tongue to McGee.

"Wow Tony, real mature!" shouted McGee as the elevator doors closed.

About an hour later, when the last of the Chinese food was being scraped from the bottom of takeout cartons and paperwork was being completed in silence, other than the occasional crunch of food.

McGee broke the silence " Well I'm done, see you guys tomorrow" he said while throwing away the leftovers of his dinner.

"See you tomorrow McGee" replied Ziva

"Hasta Lavista probie" said Tony in one of his impersonations; it was hard to distinguish one from the other. About 20 minutes later Ziva announced

"I'm done, see you tomorrow" she walked to the elevator and got in before she heard

"Wait hold the doors". She held the doors while Tony grabbed his bag and ran into the elevator to join her. Ziva had half expected that he would join her in the elevator. The building was pretty much empty and they were most likely the last two to leave, she new he would not want to be left alone in the building. Even though Tony had a macho, tough exterior Ziva knew that he didn't like to be left alone in a dark room or in this case building.

After about 30 second of travel the elevator suddenly stopped. The lights flickered then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Forgot to say this before I DONT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF THE CHARACTORS!

* * *

Tony had been porously postponing his departure to correspond with Ziva's, he didn't want to have to walk the through the building and parking lot by himself at this time of night. It wasn't that he was scared just if he had the choice he would rather go with someone then alone. When Ziva had said she was leaving, Tony could tell that from her voice that she was tired. They passed the first 30 or so seconds of the elevator ride in silence, they were both tired. Then suddenly the elevator stopped, screeching to a sudden, unplanned halt. The light flickered then everything went black.

"Great, just great" mumbled Tony. It was late, around midnight, they had had an early call that morning and a late night the previous night. Sleep was one thing the entire team was obviously deprived of. The only person who wasn't showing any affects of the limited sleep was Gibbs. "He probably doesn't even sleep, just work on his boat and drink coffee." Thought Tony. He took out his cell phone and tried to call for help but it didn't work.

"The cell towers must be down because my cell phone isn't working" said Tony

"Its probably a blackout or something, it might be a long time until someone realizes we are stuck here" said Ziva as she squatted then sat down on the floor of the elevator. Tony followed her example, they sat cross legged next to each other.

"Why don't you take this opportunity to tell me what's going on Ziva" said Tony

" Nothing is going on" relied Ziva

"Come on, give me some credit. I am a trained investigator and I can tell when something is up, we have been partners for over 4 years" "said Tony

" I don't want to talk about it" she answered

" You say you don't want to talk about it, but your eyes won't shut up" He replied, starring into her eyes.

" Just let it out, it will make you feel better" he continued

Before she knew it words were coming out of her mouth. She told the story of what had happened, how Oli and Dennia never got to live their lives the way they wanted to. Gentle tears rolled down her cheeks. She continued past the story of what had happened, telling him about the relationship that never really got to blossom. She told Tony the truth about Ari and her father. All the emotions and feeling that she had kept bottled up her whole life found there way into her words. Ziva suddenly felt his tender arms around her, instead of pushing away she allowed herself to be comforted. They sat like that for a few minutes, Ziva with tears steadily rolling down her face and Tony holding her close, his reassuring arms wrapped around her until her tears slowly stopped. Even after she stopped crying they sat like that, Ziva squeezed close into his embrace and Tony just held her. They both fell asleep like that, their arms around each other.

They woke up to the sound of people outside of the elevator. Ziva woke up first, when she realized she was still in the sleeping Tony's arms she literarily jumped to the other corner of the elevator. Tony started to wake, but before they could confront each other about the pervious night they heard maintenance trying to get the doors open. The power had gone out and they were trying to get the elevator on the backup generator so they could open the doors. They tried for several minutes unsuccessfully to open the doors. Tony and Ziva sat there in an awkward silence for what seemed like ages, when finally they managed to get the doors open. Ziva flew out, she couldn't get out of there fast enough, while Tony slowly picked him self off the floor.

When they entered the squad room, a stern Gibbs, relieved Abby and a stressed out McGee greeted them.

"See Abby they're fine" said McGee in a tone that suggested that he had been trying to convey this idea to Abby for a good portion of the morning.

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD" said Abby while she embraced Ziva and Tony

"You guys were stuck in that elevator for so long" she said

"Well I can tell you it felt twice as long to us!" answered Tony in a tired voice

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and they had not made any progress on the case.

"Why don't you two go home, your not getting anything done and you had a long night" said Gibbs. The sincerity of what he said surprised everyone, causeing them to look up from there desks.

"Ok boss, Zee-vah I'll drive you home" said Tony momentarily forgetting what happened in the elevator. His expression changed from this boyish grin to a wrinkles in his forehead while he contemplated if he should say something else.

"Surrree.." Ziva answered uneasily

McGee noticed the awkward way in which the two partners were talking and couldn't help but wonder what had gone down in the elevator. When the two agents had left, this time taking the stairs, McGee slipped downstairs to see Abby and get her opinion on what was going on.

The car ride was filled with awkward silence. They drove in silence for a good 5 minutes before Tony gave up on talking, not knowing how to start a conversation and turned on the radio. They both started to hum to the song on the radio, Tony hummed louder and louder until be burst into song. This made Ziva laugh, Tony looked at her and she smiled. They spent the rest of the car ride humming and singing along to the radio. When they reached Ziva's apartment Tony pulled the car over.

Ziva opened the door and said "Thanks for the ride… and thank you for listening in the elevator. It really does feel better to talk to someone then keep it all locked up inside".

He smiled. She leaned over and gave him a hug. I lasted a bit longer than a usual friendly hug. She got out of the car and was walking up the steps to her apartment, when Tony yelled out the window. "Hey do you want to come over on Thursday and do the movie night we all used to do?"

"Ok Tony, see you then" she agreed with a smile.


End file.
